


Sweet, Sweet Wine

by ancallis



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen, One-Sided Love, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancallis/pseuds/ancallis
Summary: Jesus, where was this kind of determination when he was in school? Ino thinks his efforts should focused elsewhere.
Kudos: 4





	Sweet, Sweet Wine

Ino sits on her balcony and sips her too expensive, sweet wine, staring at the sky. It’s an unfortunate habit she’s picked up from Shikamaru. Ugh, him. She grimaces and shakes her head. He’s in love with her, too much for his and her own good. She is painfully aware of his feelings, probably more than he is. She can tell by the way he always ends up at her apartment after he’s been drinking, the way his hands linger after accidentally brushing fingers, and the horrible way he looks at her when he thinks she isn’t looking. It’s sickening to have Shikamaru, the abrasive, callous asshole, act like this. His apologies are too sincere after he teases her.

She takes another sip. It slides down her throat slowly, leaving a thick aftertaste of sugar and grapes. Ino thinks of Shikamaru far too much than she would like, she muses. Sometimes, she allows herself to think of what it’d be like to date him, before cringing at herself and laughing. He loves her so much, and she knows if she _just_ gave in she would be so happy.

He even left Temari for her. He never told her the reason for the split but he didn’t need to. Ino needs to stop thinking about Temari or she’ll start tearing up about the night Temari showed up on her doorstep wasted, sobbing and screaming, and all Ino could do is comfort the woman he left for her. Her therapist says Ino should hold no guilt about their break up, considering it was a decision Shikamaru made on his own, but she can’t erase the sound of Temari’s cries from her mind.

The worst thing? Ino loves him. She just doesn’t love him enough to make things work. She pretends that these feelings never exist, pretends to not notice how red his face gets when she teasingly flirts with him, how sad he gets when she talks about her latest fling. It breaks her heart when she sees how much he wants her. She tries to hurt him on purpose to squash his hopeless feelings, but he’s too damn smart for his own good. She knows that he knows one day he’ll break her down. But what can she do? Until then, she’ll sleep around, sip her too expensive wine, and dread the day she realizes she can’t live without Shikamaru.

**Author's Note:**

> it's so tiring having someone like you when you don't feel the same way. but, it does feel nice knowing someone sees you like that.


End file.
